Several prisoners who supported Islamic State were on February 3 shot dead by prison guards in Tajikistan after launching an attack wielding shanks and hand-made knives, according to a justice ministry briefing.

The incident once again brings attention to Tajikistan as a country that has come to be known as a fruitful radicalisation and recruiting ground for the jihadist group, an offshoot of which has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly international terrorist attacks allegedly committed by Tajiks in recent years, including the Crocus City Hall bloodbath that cost at least 140 lives near Moscow almost a year ago.

Reuters quoted a Tajik law enforcement source as saying at least five of the prisoners convicted over links to the banned Islamic State group and the Jihadi Salafi movement were killed after attacking guards and trying to break out of Vahdat Penitentiary No. 3/2, a penal colony located 24 kilometres (15 miles) from the capital Dushanbe. The justice ministry said nine prisoners took part in the attack. 

At least three prison guards were seriously injured in the clash, with the head of the prison's administration taken to hospital in a serious condition, a second source told Reuters.

Unverified video on Telegram channels showed what was described as dead prisoners in puddles of blood. At least one wore a hat showing the Islamic State flag. Andrei Serenko, a Central Asia analyst, said during the escape attempt, the flag was briefly raised over the prison.

No group has claimed responsibility for the riot.

Following the riot, the Civil Committee for the Rescue of Hostages and Political Prisoners of Tajikistan (CCHP) put out a statement saying that “at least 10 prisoners were killed and a number were injured as a result of guards shooting at prisoners.”

CCHP claimed that those killed had no connection to Islamic State or any other proscribed group and were in fact political prisoners.

Tajikistan’s misfortune and difficulty is that it borders Afghanistan which, since the withdrawal of US and allied forces from the country in August 2021, jihadist and terrorist groups have—as anticipated by bne IntelliNews shortly after the US quit Kabul—poured into. They often arrive from parts of Syria and Iraq, where Kurdish militia, serving as a fighting force in coordination with American special forces and air power, brought down the self-declared Islamic State caliphate in March 2019.

Islamic State regards both the Taliban administration in Afghanistan and the secular governments of Central Asia as foes and it appears to have been successful in recruiting many disillusioned young men living under the tightly controlled authoritarian regime of Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries into the ranks of an Afghanistan-based affiliate, Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP, or ISIS-K).

Vahdat Penitentiary No. 3/2 has experienced prisoner rebellions previously. In May 2019, 29 prisoners and three guards were killed there when a riot broke out. Tajik authorities said at the time the incident was orchestrated by members of extremist groups. Islamic State claimed responsibility.

In November 2018, 21 prisoners and two guards were killed in a prison in Khujand, northern Tajikistan.